Structural Characteristics and Conduct of Japanese Medical Institutions

The coexistence of public and private medical institutions can be regarded as one of the main characteristics of Japan's medical services market. The market shares of private hospitals are 80 percent in the number of facilities, 70 percent in the number of hospital beds, and 60 percent in the amount of medical fees.>sup>1>/sup> What characteristics does this coexistence of public and private medical facilities give to Japan's medical service market? Also, what behavioral characteristics do public and private institutions each have? Clarifying these questions by observing data is the objective of this paper. In terms of industrial organization theory, that means we will discuss the behavioral characteristics and problems that both types of institutions have under today's medical system. Tokita (1995) discusses in more depth the various problems of Japan's medical services market.